Liz1531

Hey newbie.. I'm trying to see if I can get insurance to get mine out. I was cash pay, so am not sure they'll approve it. If not, I will be saving for a long time to try and pay cash to get it out. Anywho... I just hate it! I haven't lost weight with it. I can't eat healthy foods because Protein and veggies, even some fruits will get stuck and I puke it all back up. I feel like I can eat all the junk food or chips/crackers I want because it goes down easily, but try and add REAL food, forget it. My hubby tries to cook low carb for me and I'm sitting there with a plate full of food and hungry but can't take another bite of meat without the pain of having it stuck and tossing it back up again. I did get a total unfill when I got pregnant in 2009 and it hasn't really made things any better. Just tired of not feeling normal. I want my body back.

Just a funny to add to my story... my son was 4 months old when I had the surgery. As soon as I came to after surgery my boobs were ready to explode! They hurt so bad I felt like a zombie as I stumbled down the hallway to the bathroom and leaned over the sink to milk myself. I was so drugged up I don't even know if the milk was making it to the sink. =)

I'm doing fine now thanks for asking. Since the unfill I have gained back every pound and then some since I had the band put in in 2007. I am getting a fill thru Fill Centers on Monday BUT not too crazy about it. They use a nurse to do the fills and don't use Fluro. I thought my doc (Ortiz) was one of the founders of Fills Centers so I'm surprised they allow fills w/out fluro. Last time I was at Ortiz's office the girl in line in front of me had a non-fluro fill and they poked a hole in her band. So this poor girl missed her flight back to wherever she lives because they found this problem and now she has to come back to TJ and pay for surgery to fix the problem. I totally agree with the advice to find follow up care BEFORE you get the surgery. In my case, I am BROKE and really can't afford the cost of the local docs. They all want quite a bit of money. Just wanted to give fair warning to anyone considering MX. (P.S. The surgery itself w/ Ortiz was a breeze!)

I was banded while bf my son. I didn't do a sleep study so that wasn't an issue. I pumped before the surgery, didn't take any of the pain meds and was able to resume feeding him the next day.

Bubble, You ARE misinformed. The price is actually $349 for the 1st appointment/fill and $165 for each add'l fill! You were being too kind in your pricing. I'm still going there though, because I'm OVER spending hours calling every doctor under the sun and trying to get my insurance to pay for aftercare. Screw it, I'm taking my tax refund and signing over to Fill Centers...lol

Why can't they just post the price already? I called today and they charge $349 for an initial visit which includes one fill and around $165 for fills. FYI, I thought that Fill Center would be like a doctors office where I could go for problems, but they are nothing more than the title says, a fill center.

I got my surgery in TJ and never worried about aftercare because I lived in San Diego. Now I've moved to AZ and NO ONE!!!! will touch me for aftercare. I had a problem where I was so inflamed that I need an unfill ASAP and had to drive 6 hours to TJ because I repeat NO ONE will touch me here. I found a couple doctors who will do it, but they want $1,500-$2,500 to "enroll" me in their aftercare program. What a crock! My insurance company is worthless, because I didn't have the surgery approved and was self pay they won't cover me if I have a problem. My insurance company (Kaiser) only covers Gastric Bypass and I was not the least bit interested in that, so I chose to self pay. You'd think they'd be happy I saved them a buck, but no. They refuse to cover anything band related. I know we ALL think the band will be great and WE won't have a problem but you never know. Fair warning folks!

I feel your pain and could have written your post myself! Over a year out and nothing to show for it. I have recently went to school to become a hypnotherapist and each time I got to be the client for another student, we've been working on eating healthier. It has really helped! I am a HUGE carnivor and haven't touched meat aside from fish in about two weeks. I've been CRAVING lot's of colorful veggies and using soy for protein. This is a first for me and it's been really helpful. Just a thought on something else to try. If interested, I would not reccomend a CD. We all know that we have many food demons in our minds or we wouldn't be here. A CD isn't going to do it for you. Weight loss hypnosis is a multi step process in which your behaviors are modified one at a time over a period of time. I wish you the best of luck as I feel the humiliation when people look at me after all this money and time and still no weight loss.

I don't want to be a Debbie downer on your LB journey, but thought that I'd share my updates with you. On this site you hear SO many good things and only a couple negatives that I chose to only hear the good. I never for one second believed that within a year out I wouldn't be at my dream weight. Let me tell ya, I am now nearly at my pre-surgery weight. I had good restriction and ate nearly 1/3 of what I ate pre surgery and lost about 15lbs over a year. They were hard to lose too. Without excercise the weight did NOT budge. I recently became really inflamed and had to have a complete unfill. All of my cravings and ability to eat a lot returned 100%. The insane compulsion for sweets came back and now that I could eat again I quickly gained back all I had lost. I am really struggling to take the weight off. So in my case, my family knows that even WLS can't make my fat @ss lose weight. This has been absolutely humiliating!!! P.S. Everyone keeps saying it's your diet, you don't excercise, etc, etc. I could only eat BARELY 3/4 of a Weight Watchers dinner with my fill, I chase after my son, plan weekend outdoor adventures for excercise and still nothing. The advice I keep hearing is to basically go on an Atkins style diet. I could have done that without spending $8,500! I got the LB so that I could reduce my portion sizes to get healthy, not go back on Atkins. The band has been a godsend to so many and I truely hope this is the case for you.

I would call the doc ASAP just to check it out. I recently had a LOT of pain while trying to eat and ended up being extremely inflamed and needed a complete unfill. when in doubt have the doc check it out. Good luck!

I haven't heard that before. I do notice that I feel naseaus pretty easily at different times but don't throw up. I would call the doc to to check it out.

Katy, Are you available to mentor? I am DESPERATE for help! You and I sound very similar. I started off at about 225 at 5'2 and went to Dr. Ortiz. I had a 4 cc band and was filled to 2.4cc. I haven't lost anything in over a year because of the band. I went down to about 204 and had to get a complete unfill. I'm now back up to 216 and this is it for me. I have finally hit bottom mentally. I am so depressed that I have put such a burden on my family to pay for this surgery and have been unsuccessful. Not to mention to humiliation of even surgery can't help me. I would love to hear what eating/excercise is like over a days time for you. Thanks!

I got on the scale today and GASP!! I am almost back up to my pre-surgery weight. Can anyone tell what I'm doing wrong? Can someone tell me exactly what to do for one sample day? Eatinig and excercising? Everyone is losing so much weight and NOTHING is coming off for me. Please help!!

Well... I have some updates to post. Gained about five pounds since having all restriction out. I am over the initial urge to binge on everything in site as I was when I could first eat again. I am now only about ten lbs less than when I had my surgery 14 months ago. So much for the miracle tool I had dream of (and paid $9000 for). I am a hypnotherapist and had a colleague do a session on me this weekend to make me not like chocolate and by george it worked! The only problem is I still want something sweet, just not chocolate. I'll have to just list sugar at my next session! I know that is what's keeping me fat, not from eating badly all day. Even with the band filled, I just needed to quit on the sugar because my portion sizes were fine. Agh... will I ever know skinny jeans again?

Just curious if the band has helped any bingers with the urge? I thought I was cured and recently had my band emptied due to inflamation. The second the band was emptied the intense urges have come back. I was wondering if any one else had this problem? I'm beginning to think the urge was not all mental as I believed before. It's not that I can eat now because I still could have binged on ice cream type stuff with the band full, but the urge to stuff was gone and is now back. Trippin me out!!! :thumbup: